WATCH: Government footage of 'fireball' lighting up sky

Tegan Annett has been a journalist at the Gladstone Observer since 2012. She started as a cadet reporter, while studying at CQUniversity. A Tannum Sands resident since 2005, this year she took on the role as deputy editor.

METEOR CHASERS are still trying to determine the size of the suspected meteor that exploded near Gladstone.

Renee Sayers, a meteor chaser with Desert Fireball Network, said they are currently relying on hundreds of reports from local witnesses and CCTV and amatuer to decipher its size, which suggested "it's looking big".

"We've got some people saying it looks like a giant basketball. One to two metres across potentially.

"It's looking big -- it was bright, it was fast.

"It's really hard to say as we have lots of different reports, but it's looking like a pretty sizeable chunk."

Ms Sayers said wide-spread reports from locals of tremors was more evidence that it was much larger than usual.

"A lot of people heard the sonic boom and they felt the tremors as this big chunk of rock exploded and fragmented as it was hurtling through our atmosphere," she said.

More to come

UPDATE: 7.40pm:

WAPPA Falls Observatory owner and founder Owen Bennedick believes the near earth asteroid exploded over the ocean near Gladstone last night.

At 6pm he said, "every cat and dog on the planet has called me about this today", and he was still unable to pin point where the asteroid landed.

The Bureau of Meteorology reported no minor tsunamis or wave action on its buoys, which lead Mr Bennedick and other experts to believe it did not land in the ocean.

"But just the fact that no one has seen any physical damage makes me think it did explode out at sea," he said.

"There's no trees, buildings or cars damaged," he said.

"Considering it's in an area the size of Gladstone it's strange that no one has noticed damage."

Meteor caught on camera in Galdstone:
Footage of a suspected meteor at a live music event. Source: 7 News Central Queensland

He said if it did explode at sea the pieces of the asteroid could have been so small that they would not have recorded a high wave impact.

Mr Bennedick said people from as far as Mackay to the Sunshine Coast saw the flashing light.
He said the force broke windows in Gladstone homes too.

UPDATE: 3.10pm:

THE DEPARTMENT of Transport and Main Roads has released new footage of what is believed to be a meteor lighting up the sky in Central Queensland over night.

TMR CCTV footage at Fisherman's landing captured the meteor as it tore through the sky.

UPDATE: 2.30pm:

NEW FOOTAGE has emerged of what is believed to be a meteor near Gladstone.

Reader poll

What do you think lit up Gladstone's sky?

This poll ended on 27 September 2016.

Current Results

An asteroid.

6%

A meteor.

18%

A meteorite.

23%

An Unidentified Flying Object (UFO).

32%

A Chinese space ship.

17%

A plane crash.

1%

This is not a scientific poll. The results reflect only the opinions of those who chose to participate.

The footage, which appears to be of a live music event, shows a "bright light" in the background crashing down to earth.

More experts have weighed in what the object could be, with WAPPA Falls Observatory owner Owen Benedict on his way to Gladstone to investigate.

Mr Benedict believes it could be an asteroid, but other renowned astronomical experts have claimed it's a "fireball meteor".

More to come

UPDATE: 11.30am:

AN INDEPENDENT UFO investigator believes last night's sonic boom in Gladstone was caused by a meteorite.

Consciousness Development and Research Group founder Kay McCullock said the trail and sonic boom experienced last night suggests it was a meteorite that flew through Gladstone's sky.

"I'd say it was a meteorite, although you could speculate it was a UFO going at high speed," she said.

"Meteorites usually break up before they hit the ground which could be why no one was able to trace any elements," she said.

But Ms McCullock said before anything was confirmed more evidence needed to become available.

Ms McCullock said she was not surprised this was sighted in Gladstone and central Queensland, as she considered the area as a "hot spot" for space activity.

She said residents should report any video footage of the flashing light or tremors.

"Video is number one because you can look at the timing and locations of what has happened.

"You can then map it out and get a pin point from where it's come from to where it's landed," she said.

11.24am:

DESPITE widespread reports that Geoscience Australia has suggested a meteorite may have caused a tremor in Gladstone last night, a spokeswoman said they hadn't recorded any "seismic activity".

"Our equipment didn't pick up any seismic activity," she said. "Whatever was felt was not an earthquake.

"But we've been told that there was a tremor."

Video shows bright light in sky:
Ellie Thompson uploaded this video to social media. It appears to show the bright light in the sky.

She said multiple reports from residents who felt a tremor suggested that something had caused it.

More to come

UPDATE: 10.23am:

SOME of Australia's leading astrophysicists have weighed in on the "bright light" seen over the Gladstone region last night.

They are beginning to come to a consensus that the description reported by Gladstone region locals, including a "boom" noise and aftershocks, is consistent with a particularly large meteor, most likely a fireball.

Professor David Parkinson, of the University of Queensland, said the "description is consistent with a meteor impact".

"The loud boom and bright light suggest an explosion of some kind, so meteor impact sounds like the best explanation, as far as we know at the moment."

Prof Parkinson also said he doubted it was space junk, as it is "usually not large enough to survive re-entry and reach sea-level as a complete object.

"It is difficult to launch objects into space, so with most spacecraft and satellites are small and light objects, which burn up soon after re-entry."

More to come

UPDATE: 11.30pm:

WEATHER experts at the Bureau of Meteorology are at a loss as to what caused a bright light which lit up Queensland skies, particularly over Gladstone.